Contacts
Inquiries
Phone: (202) 287-5813
Email: news@science.doe.gov
Twitter: @doescience
Director
Rick Borchelt
Phone: 202-586-4477
Email: rick.borchelt@science.doe.gov
Rick Borchelt is director of the Office for Communications and Public Affairs. He also manages the community of practice initiative, identifying and sharing best practices and communications insights from the science communication literature.
Media Communications Specialist
Claire Ballweg (Contractor)
Phone: 202-287-5813
Email: claire.ballweg@science.doe.gov
Claire is OCPA's editorial workflow manager, managing laboratory input for the weekly Science News Dashboard report to senior DOE management and making sure news gets play on the Office of Science website. She also coordinates external publicity in the media and on the Hill for DOE's National Science Bowl. Through her environmental scans she keeps a pulse on Office of Science news, from both internal and external sources. Claire is a program analyst - researching, evaluating, and measuring the effectiveness of disseminating Office of Science products.
Outreach Communications Specialist
Kate Bannan (Contractor)
Phone: 202-586-7814
Email: kate.bannan@science.doe.gov
As an Outreach and Communications Manager, Kate is responsible for developing and implementing strategic communications and outreach programs for the office's external stakeholders, with an emphasis on universities. She is OCPA's lead on coordinating award ceremonies and events, including the Fermi Awards, the EO Lawrence Awards, the PECASE Awards, and the Science Speakers program. She also manages OCPA's external news platform and syndication site.
Deputy Director
Allison Eckhardt
Phone: 202-287-6990
Email: allison.eckhardt@science.doe.gov
Allison leads OCPA's outreach and media team to identify Office of Science research stories and engage interested audiences through multiple platforms. She also works with the media to facilitate stories, and with senior program and scientific staff to prepare for interview opportunities. She also monitors news and trade publications for issues and stories of interest to the Office of Science, and works with the national laboratories under SC stewardship on honing pitches to national media.
Communications Specialist
Kristin Manke
Phone: 202-586-9909
Email: kristin.manke@science.doe.gov
Kristin leads the editorial process for the Office of Science research highlights—short summaries of significant scientific discoveries. Working closely with the program managers, she reviews content, tracks progress, and promotes highlights. As a member of the communications team, she identifies story ideas, pitches topics, and writes original pieces designed to engage and inform stakeholders.
Communications Specialist
Sandra Allen McLean
Phone: 202-586-4344
Email: sandra.mclean@science.doe.gov
Sandra is responsible for identifying, curating, or creating lay-language content about Office of Science-funded research for DOE web sites, popular and trade media, and stakeholder education. She develops for public use narratives on research, especially R&D conducted jointly between labs or between labs and other research partners, or using the Office of Science user facilities. She also serves as liaison to program specialty areas.
Student Trainee
Claire Oto
Phone: 202-586-9909
Email: claire.oto@science.doe.gov
Claire is OCPA's student trainee, assisting all three areas of the Office of Communications and Public Affairs: outreach, internal communications, and editorial and content. Through environment scanning, Claire seeks to demonstrate the value of science communication as a part of the research process.
Web Communications Specialist
Dean Pettersson (Contractor)
Phone: 202-287-6991
Email: dean.pettersson@science.doe.gov
Dean manages and maintains the Office of Science website and twitter account. As part of the editorial team, he ensures that the content on those communications channels is refreshed regularly, and conducts frequent environmental scans in order to find articles and technologies that can be amplified and featured. Dean also gathers and analyzes site metrics, creating regular web reports and making recommendations for optimizing site usage based on those results. Finally, Dean serves as the first point of contact for website visitors, responding to emailed questions and/or redirecting them to appropriate parties.
Team Lead, Editorial and Content
Shannon Brescher Shea
Phone: 202-586-6044
Email: shannon.shea@science.doe.gov
Shannon leads OCPA's content team to find and tell unique stories about the Office of Science's research. These stories, which span multiple laboratories or disciplines, provide science stakeholders with a broad understanding of the Office's mission and accomplishments. After writing or editing these pieces, she collaborates with the outreach team to strategically publicize them through traditional and new media outlets. She also leads the community of practice for the national laboratories' science communicators, the Science Public Outreach Community (SPOC).
Team Lead, Internal Communications
Roxanne Fournier Stone
Phone: 301-903-1892
Email: roxanne.stone@science.doe.gov
Roxanne is charged with promulgating organizational, operational, and federal resource information of interest to the Office of Science employee community. She curates and approves content for the SC intranet; coordinates the employee speaker series; facilitates virtual town halls for senior management; and develops, reviews, and approves communications for internal broadcast. Through ongoing interface with management, staff and SC customer groups, Roxanne continually seeks to improve employee engagement, internal communication, and situational awareness within the Office of Science.
